


A Rose Between Two Thorns

by licenseddrugdealer



Series: Fantastic Beasts [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Still Can't Tag, Whump, hurt!newt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-06 20:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8768572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/licenseddrugdealer/pseuds/licenseddrugdealer
Summary: Newt is visiting New York and he, Tina, Queenie, and Jacob all go on a little camping trip outside the city. Newt of course discovers a fascinating plant on their trip. Unfortunately there are consequences.





	1. Chapter 1

By the time they got Newt back to the apartment he was drenched in sweat. He leaned heavily on Jacob for support and his breath was coming in pained gasps. Jacob helped Newt to the couch and gently eased him down on to it. Newt rolled in to the back of couch, clutching his arms to his chest and burying his face in the cushions. He was shivering violently and sweating profusely, both products of the fever burning through him.

Jacob, Tina, and Queenie gathered in front of the couch and shared a look of helplessness. Newt had been stung by the thorn of a gigantic rose bush he'd discovered on the groups camping trip outside the city. He'd encountered the species once before but this one was different in that the bush had large scorpion like tails hiding inside that could reach out and sting unsuspecting victims before they even touched the plant. The one he'd seen previously only had fixed thorns attached to the stems. Newt was the usual expert here but he'd claimed nothing could be done to counteract the poison. He would simply have to ride it out. He'd assured them it would only take a few hours.

Tina thought suddenly that they should at least attempt to bring Newt's fever down, although she wasn't sure he would be very agreeable to anything that involved him moving.

"Oh, you're right," said Queenie in response to Tina's thoughts. She reached down and placed her hand on Newt's forehead. "He's too hot. We do have some fever reducing herbs here somewhere."

"Where are they, I'll get them," Jacob said. He was no longer phased by Queenie's manner of speaking in response to words that only she could hear. He was learning quickly how to fill in the blanks.

"Nnn," they heard Newt mumble from nearly inside the couch cushions. He turned his head just a little so that he would be heard. "No," he was breathing heavily still and his eyes had taken on a glassy shine. "The poison reacts to any other substance." He took a moment to catch his breath. "Anything you give me will just make it worse." He clenched his eyes shut at the sudden nausea that rolled through him. "May I have a bucket please," Newt asked urgently, still much more polite than he had a right to be.

Queenie, reading his thoughts, had already snatched up the small wastebasket from the end of the couch and placed it down in front of him. He rolled over and lost the contents of his stomach. He nearly fell off the couch as he vomited but Tina sat down in front of him and held him up.

"Oh! Is that blood?!" Jacob asked upon seeing the contents of the small trash can. Newt glanced down, his brow furrowed, then realization struck him.

"Yes, I'm afraid so . . . I'm dying," Newt said. He fell back on the couch in exhaustion but a smirk crept on to his face. Queenie was nearly beside herself trying not to laugh. Tina and Jacob shared a horrified look.

"No, he's only joking! Remember all that Italian food we had for lunch?" Queenie asked.

"Oh!" Jacob sighed in relief. Tina just smacked Newts arm gently.

"That's not funny," she said trying not to smile back at him.

"It was a little funny," Newt said. Almost immediately the smirk and the color drained from his face as another wave of pain hit him. This time the prickly sensation, like thousands of needles, spread up past his diaphragm where it had before been isolated. Queenie could almost feel it too, and she was getting a weird distorted view of the sensation. The only thing she could compare it to was when you woke up after sleeping strange on an arm or a foot and the way it felt like static over the radio when the blood started to flow back into it. Except this was much worse.

The pain crawled its way up his chest, all the way to his chin and wrapped its icy claws around his jaw. Newt again turned his face down in the cushion. He whimpered and drew his shoulders up tight at the pain. His breaths became more shallow due to the tightness in his chest. This pain was already worse than the last time he'd been stung. Tina gently brushed the sweat soaked hair away from his forehead. Queenie and Jacob went to the bedroom to prepare some things so that they could move Newt somewhere more comfortable.

Newt was nearly holding his breath by the time the wave passed. His shoulders finally relaxed and he was able to breathe again, for a little while at least. He gasped for a minute until he caught his breath. He looked up at Tina as she felt his forehead again. The look on her face did not bode well for Newt. He groaned and buried his face in the couch once again.

"No, no, we have to get you cooled down," she said.

"Oh, Mr. Scamander," Queenie said as she walked back in to the room. She could cry for him, for the pain he was in. She wanted to, but that wouldn't help anything. "The pain is already so much worse than last time. He's worried about how bad it's gonna get. And that's not a very nice word to say to a lady," Queenie admonished him playfully. Newt blushed and muttered an apology. "Oh that's okay honey. You're feeling just terrible. I'm surprised you don't have anything worse to say in there." She tapped his forehead and then placed a cool cloth over it. Times like this Tina began to feel a little bitter that Queenie could tell what was going on inside that strange man's head and she couldn't. He was hers after all. She should be able to help him. "Aww Teenie," Queenie said. She pulled Tina into a hug and rubbed her back a few times. She pulled back and gave Tina a knowing look with a smirk. Tina knew Queenie was probably just bursting inside about Tina calling Newt "hers" in her head and of course Queenie would never be upset at Tina for the other thoughts. Tina took it back. Her sister was the perfect host for such a gift and she loved her for it.

Newt lay there in silence for a few minutes while Tina and Queenie bustled about. They made him drink some water even though he would have rather just died. Then Jacob emerged from the bathroom. "It's ready," he said.

"No," Newt groaned.

"Yes," Tina said, leaving no room for argument. Jacob helped Newt sit up on the couch. He thought he might be sick again but it passed in a few moments. They removed Newt's coat and his waistcoat. When Tina reached for his shirt he pushed her hand away.

"Please," he whispered, "don't." She could never deny him anything when he made that face.

"Okay, but it's coming off after, you can't sleep in it all wet," she said sternly. Newt nodded and attempted to stand only to pitch forward. Tina and Jacob caught his weight easily. He wasn't very heavy. He blushed once again.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tina said. They managed to reach the bathroom but as soon as they entered, the pain peaked again. Newt tried to stay silent but he couldn't help the cry that escaped his lips. His legs buckled completely. They lowered him gently down to the cool tile floor.

This time the sensation had circled all the way around his torso and was climbing up his spine. Tina was sat behind him, holding him up against her chest. She whispered soothing words in his ear. Queenie was forced to left the bathroom to get away from the worst of the pain for just a minute. She knew she'd be no help to anyone if she got too overwhelmed by it. She was quick to cast a silence spell over the bathroom, so that the neighbors wouldn't hear the commotion.

Newt cried out at the pain a few more times before he was out of energy to do so. He continued to whimper quietly with nearly every breath he took. Tina was ready to cry as she held Newt close and Jacob looked about ready to be sick. Finally, blessedly, the pain passed.

"Jacob, help me. Get his feet," she said. The two of them lifted his limp form up and into the bathtub. Tina worried that the water wouldn't be cold enough to help so she cast a cooling charm on the bath to bring it down a few more degrees. She and Jacob shared yet another worried glance as Newt shivered for only a second before going still. If his body was too exhausted for even that . . . well they didn't really want to think about that.

Tina knelt down next to the bath tub and reached in to begin unbuttoning Newt's shirt. There was no point in trying to lift him out of the bath with his wet clothes weighing him down and he was too exhausted to protest now anyways. As she reached the last button and pushed his shirt open, she gasped. Jacob looked around Tina and his mouth dropped open in shock. Newt was covered in a plethora of scars. Some large, some small, some still shiny and new and some older. Tina realized that most of them must have come from his encounters with magical creatures. She shouldn't have been surprised really. His work was dangerous and he was very experienced. You don't gain that kind of experience playing it safe all the time . . . or ever apparently.

"Jeez louise," Jacob breathed out. "Newt, buddy, you gotta tell me about these things ahead of time sos I'm not surprised." Newt huffed softly. He was slightly aware of what was happening but couldn't bring himself to care as much as he had before. Tina took a wash cloth and soaked it in the water and then rung it out over Newts head. She did this a few more times, he didn't seem to notice much. Finally she felt his head and decided he was cool enough for now.

"Okay, we need to get him out of here before he has another episode. Don't want him to drown." They pulled him out the same way they put him in and laid him gently on the floor. Tina then looked down, embarrassed.  "Um, do you think you could, you know, help him change," she asked Jacob.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he said waving her out. He emerged a few minutes later carrying a mostly dry magizoologist in a pair of flannel pajama pants.

"Okay here bring him to the bed." Jacob did as he was told and set Newt down gently on the bed. The man was still quite warm but nowhere near as hot as he had been before.

"How long has it been?" Tina asked Queenie.

"About four hours I think."

"He said before that it would pass by now," Tina said worriedly.

"Yeah, I heard him thinking about it earlier though. He was worried that a second exposure would cause a more severe reaction," said Queenie. "It looks like he might have been right. There's no telling how long this will last, or how bad it'll get. Poor thing," Queenie took Jacob's hand and leaned into him as they all watched Newt.

"Well it's getting late, we should take turns watching him, right?" asked Jacob.

"I'll go first," said Tina. Jacob headed out to lay down on the couch. Tina went over to Newt and sat down gently next to him on the bed. His hair was still a bit damp from the bath so she smoothed it back before leaning down to kiss his forehead. He was looking at her as she leaned back.

"Hey you," said Tina. Newt's eyes were clouded over with confusion and pain. He was clearly exhausted but she doubted he would be getting much sleep tonight.

"Hey," he whispered back.

"Mind if I join you?" asked Tina as she pulled a chair up from the corner of the room. Newt closed his eyes and gave a sound of consent. Tina sat down facing the bed and she took Newt's hand in her own. Not a moment later, Queenie returned with a bucket of cool water and a cloth as well as another waste basket in case Newt needed to be sick again.

"I'm leaving this door open so we can hear you if you need us okay?" Queenie asked, more to confirm that Tina understood than to get her permission.

Tina smiled at Queenie, "thanks."

Tina pulled the rag out of the water and placed it on Newt's head. This prompted him to look up towards Tina and use what seemed like every bit of energy he had left to whisper a weak, "thank you." Then he squeezed her hand back.

He kept his eyes closed for a while longer but they opened back up to small slits in a matter of minutes. Tina felt Newt squeeze her hand and she looked down in time to see him tense up like a spring. Newt seemed like he was going to scream. The hot, needle like pain was now spreading down Newts arms, all the way to his fingertips. Tina took the rag off of his head and soaked it in the water again. This time though she dabbed the cool water down Newt's neck and across his bare chest. His other hand was buried in the blanket, ringing the life out of it. He screwed his eyes shut and he was nearly holding his breath again. She suspected this was his strategy for not making any noise. Well it was a stupid strategy and she was going to let him know about it.

"Newt, breathe, just breathe. It's okay to let it out. No one is going to hear you but me," she assured him, stroking his face with her free hand. Newt was shaking with the effort to hold in his cries. But at Tina's words, he couldn't anymore. He let out the breath he had been holding with a sob. He gasped for another breath and then he couldn't stop. A whimper accompanied every breath after. Sometimes a sharp cry would emerge if he was able to catch his breath enough. A few tears slipped down his face. "It's okay." She wiped the tears away and then resumed her task with the cloth. She kept careful hold of his hand the whole time. Newt was struggling to think of anything but the pain but it was overwhelming his senses. Every tear that fell was like a dagger ripping into Tina's heart. No matter how badly she wanted to help, she could do nothing for him except be there. And be there she would.


	2. Chapter 2

When the episode finally ended, Newt fell slack on the bed. He was sweating profusely. His fever had spiked. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, delirious. Tina felt his head and realized that his temperature was dangerously high, once again. He was semi-conscious but seemed to have no idea what was happening. Tina jumped up and walked briskly to the bathroom where she began running more cool water into the tub. She had her hand in the water to check the temperature when a voice behind her made her jump.

 

"You need help?" asked Jacob. He was standing in the doorway.

 

"Yes I do. I didn't mean to wake you but since you're up I would appreciate the help," replied Tina.

 

"Oh, we ain't been sleepin'," said Jacob. He immediately blushed and giggled at Tina's sharp look. "No, no, not like that. We've just been talkin' is all." Tina nodded. Together they carried Newt to the bathroom and lowered him into the tub. He didn't respond to anything until he was submerged in the water.

 

As soon as the shock of the cold hit him he started struggling. He tried to get his legs under him but the tub was slippery and he didn't have enough energy. When that failed, he found the sides of the tub and held tight to them. Every time they got him in the water he would try to pull himself out again. He was too confused to go willingly. After a few escape attempts Tina took out her wand and said, "brachiabindo!" His arms flew in from the sides of the tub to lay across his chest. He continued to struggle.

 

"Newt please!" Tina said. She placed her hand on top of his, now bound with invisible string. "Please calm down. You're safe, we're just trying to get your temperature down." But Newt did not calm down.

 

"Oh for the love of Merlin," said Tina exasperated. She stood up and started taking off her clothes. Jacob was startled.

 

"What are you doing?!" he asked. He jumped up and turned around so he wouldn't see Tina in her underclothes.

 

"Just a few hours darling. Nothing to worry about. I've been stung before. It'll be fine," she mocked Newt in her best British accent, completely ignoring Jacob's question. When she got down to her slip, she pointed her wand at Newt again and said, "Emancipare!" then she stepped in to the bath behind him. She sat and pulled him back to her chest, with her hands wrapped around him to hold his arms in. "Newt Scamander! If you die because of a stupid flower, I will bring you back and kill you," she bit out.

 

"Are you naked?!"

 

"Not completely," Tina said wryly. Jacob turned back around. Newt was still struggling a little but it seemed like it helped that she was holding him and not some invisible spell. She softened up a little at that. She was still upset but only because she knew he was hurting. "Shh, it's okay," she said to Newt. But then she started whispering in Newt's ear and Jacob decided not to listen anymore. Newt eventually relaxed as much as he could in the cold water. He was shivering again so Tina decided that was a good sign. He even opened his eyes after a while. He still looked confused but less so.

 

"Credence?" Newt whispered, eyes locked onto the small window next to the sink. Tina and Jacob both snapped to attention but they saw nothing at the window. Newt closed his eyes again, let his head fall back and rest on Tina's shoulder. He looked absolutely miserable.

 

Tina tensed up at Newt's sudden sharp intake of breath. "No . . . No, no, no, please . . . Tina . . . I can't," he pleaded in panic. His voice was so soft, Tina wouldn't have heard him if she wasn't so close to him. "Cantcantcantpleaseno," he bit out through tears. The rest were just unintelligible sounds of pain.

 

His pleas each felt like a punch in the gut to her. She would do anything to take this pain away from him. She loved him. It was a terrible moment to admit it to herself but it happened nonetheless. She buried her face in his hair, kissed his head, and tried not to cry herself.

 

"I've got you," was all she could say and she held him tighter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has commented, subscribed, left kudos! You are all amazing and appreciated. If any of you want to follow me on tumblr my blog is http://keepcalmandthisismydesign.tumblr.com/   
> Thanks for reading!

Once Newt was relaxed again Tina and Jacob pulled him out of the bath and gently set him on the floor. Tina used magic to dry him and herself off this time. He'd cooled down enough that she wasn't so worried about accidentally heating him up too much with the charm. Tina quickly threw most of her clothes back on, then they carried Newt back to the bed. As they passed the kitchen Queenie said, "Teenie you want tea or coco?"

 

"Tea please," she grunted. Queenie already knew that Jacob wanted coco.

 

When Newt was situated on the bed, Queenie came in with a tray of drinks and some cookies. There was also a small bowl of broth. Tina wasn't sure if Newt was passed out or not but she was sure he wouldn't want to be woken. She also knew it was necessary. He at least needed to drink some water.

 

Tina gently touched his face, tracing the freckles on his cheeks back towards his ears. "Newt?" He shifted a little. His eyes were moving. "Newt?" she said again. This time he opened his eyes a little. "You need to sit up for a minute," she said. Newt made a sound that definitely meant no but Tina ignored him. She pulled him up towards her and Queenie pushed an extra pillow in behind him. Tina picked up the glass of water and helped Newt drink some. Once he took the first sip it was hard to get him to stop. Tina put the glass down and reached for the bowl of broth but Queenie shoed her hand away.

 

"You sit and drink some of your tea," she said. "I can do this." So Tina moved over to the other bed and sat there with Jacob. She sipped at her tea and tried to eat a cookie but she just didn't have the appetite. Jacob was very occupied with his cookie. Not because he didn't care about Newt, but because it was a damn good cookie. Queenie giggled from her spot with Newt.

 

"Thanks honey!" she said in response to Jacob's mental compliment.

 

"You're welcome doll," he said with a wink. Jacob noticed eventually of course that Tina was not enjoying her cookie as much as she should be.

 

"Hey," Jacob said, placing his hand over Tina's. "You know he's gonna' be okay right? And he wouldn't want you to worry. You know what he told me when we first met?" Jacob asked. Tina shook her head. "He said 'worrying means you suffer twice'. I think he's right." He squeezed her hand and then went back to enjoying his cookie.

 

Newt managed most of the broth and Queenie could tell he was too tired for anything else. In fact, most of the time she'd been helping him eat it he had been half asleep, so it was impressive that he managed to eat at all without choking. Queenie put the bowl down and started to rise when she caught an image from Newt's mind. "Oh?" she said, sitting back down and staring at Newt like she was trying to drill a hole through his head. "That no-maj boy, Credence! He saw him?!" said Queenie.

 

"No. His brain was about to boil from the fever. He was just imagining things," Tina said. They all three looked at each other and decided that it was probably best to leave it there . . . for now at least.

 

"Right. Of course," said Queenie.

 

Soon, Tina began to feel quite sleepy. She tried to stifle her yawn but obviously Queenie could tell. "Hey Tina how bout you get some sleep. We can watch Newt for a while." Tina didn't protest which Jacob thought was odd but he picked up the tray and brought it over to the table by Queenie. She was sitting on the bed next to Newt, so Jacob took the chair and prepared to keep watch. When he reached up to take his drink from the tray, Queenie snatched it from his hand.

  
"Wha-," he started to protest.

 

"That was _Tina's_ drink," said Queenie. She bit her lip and looked over at Tina who was fast asleep on the other bed. "I added something extra. You don't want to drink it. Trust me."

 

Jacob looked at Tina with wide eyes, then back at Queenie who gave him her most mischievous smile. "Which one's mine?"

 

"This one sugar. The handle's chipped see," she pointed out. She picked up the cloth from the bowl of cool water and placed it on Newts head. Then she moved off the bed and sat on Jacob's lap. "Poor thing," she said and took Newt's hand to let him know they were still there. Jacob realized that Queenie never acted surprised at seeing Newt's scars.

 

"Did you know about those?" asked Jacob. He gestured to Newt's bare torso.

 

"Yeah . . . that's why he didn't want to go swimming with us at the campground. Why he and Tina stayed behind and went off on a hike instead." Her voice got very low. "He was real upset, begging me not to say anything, inside his head, you know?" Queenie said. She brushed her thumb over the back of Newt's hand.

 

"I don't get it. Why did he think we would care about something like that? What did he think was gonna' happen?" Jacob asked. He thought it made a lot of sense that he had all those scars. Newt worked with some dangerous creatures and obviously was willing to take risks to help them when he needed to, even if that was dangerous for him.

 

"Not all of them came from work honey," Queenie said ruefully. "You know he doesn't like to talk about himself. He didn't want to have to lie about where they came from. He wasn't ready to share that story just yet. Not with all of us anyways. Don't worry though. He likes it here, with us. He'll open up one day." Jacob nodded in agreement and they sat and watched and waited.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating yesterday! I had a huge final today that I was studying for and I wanted to make sure this chapter was perfect because it's the last one for this story. Good news is that I did great on my final and now I'm one step closer to becoming a pharmacist! (JK I'm not that excited about that) Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it. I'm going to write another story about how Newt got expelled and about the other scars and maybe a certain young man who may or may not actually be dead! Stay tuned.

Tina was just so tired. She felt like she could stay in bed forever. She also knew there was something else she needed to be doing. _Work?_ She thought. _No, I'm on vacation. I get a whole week off to spend with Newt . . . Newt!_ She shot up from the bed like there was a spring underneath. "Newt!" She couldn't see him. Jacob and Queenie were blocking her view. Tina stumbled over to the other bed, still fighting the last of the sleeping draught.

"Shhh, Teenie he's sleeping," Queenie whispered with her finger over her lips.

"What!? What happened? Is he okay?" Tina asked frantically.

"Yes silly. He's fine. He finally got it all out of his system and now he's resting. Don't wake him up!" she whispered again, but more aggressively this time. "Come on, I made some breakfast." Queenie took her hand to drag her out to the kitchen. Jacob stayed in his seat. He'd been sleeping since just after Newt.

Queenie plopped Tina down into her usual seat at the table and placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her. "You just eat that and don't come back in here until it's gone." Then she went back to the bedroom. Queenie sure knew how to act like the big sister, even though she wasn't.

Tina dutifully finished all the food as quickly as possible, which was how she ate most of her food really. Then she hurried back to the bedroom. To her surprise, Newt was sitting up, and _awake_! He was propped up against the headboard and Jacob was helping him drink some water. One second Newt was drinking some water and then he blinked, and the next second Tina was there by the bed looking at him like he was a three headed dog. That made him jump and when he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt, he scrambled to pull up the sheets and cover himself.

"Tina!" She was confused for a moment. He had spent most of last night with his shirt off in front of her. She was very comfortable with that. She supposed he didn't remember much of last night very well, and was not quite so use to it.

"Jacob, can we have a minute?" asked Tina.

"Sure. I'll just go help Queenie," he said. He went over to Newt's case, at the foot of the bed, opened it, and stepped inside. Tina sat down in the chair and took Newt's hand.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. "We were so worried." Newt blushed, he hated to be so much trouble.

"I'm fine," he said. Tina was very skeptical. "Really! I told Queenie I could handle feeding everyone myself but she insisted I stay here," he gestured to the case. "I promise. I'm feeling much better," he assured her.

"Well, in that case, we can talk about why you've been acting like such an idiot," said Tina. Newt blushed again.

"I'm very sorry about ruining the trip. I didn't mean to. I hope you'll still get to enjoy some of your vacation time," Newt said.

"No! Not that! This," she said, taking his arm and pointing at one of the scars. "What in the world were you thinking? That you'd be able to never take your shirt off for the rest of your life?" she asked. Newt was an entirely new shade of red, one Tina thought she may have never even seen before. "I don't want you to be embarrassed or scared or whatever around me. Don't you trust me?"

"What?! Of course I trust you. I . . . It's silly. I know. I just . . . I don't like having to explain. Some of the stories, I'd rather forget. I was putting it off because I thought maybe one day it would be inevitable. If things happen how I wanted them to happen. Merlin, I'm not making any sense." He fell back against the pillows and looked at the ceiling for a few moments, just to gather his thoughts. Tina sat in silence, but she squeezed his hand to let him know he could continue whenever he was ready.

"I really like you. A lot. And I was hoping that maybe if you felt the same way, maybe one day, we would be at a point where I could show you this and I would know for sure that you wouldn't see them the wrong way," he sighed.

TIna Laughed. "You ridiculous man. Do you not know? I really like you too. There's no reason for you to keep this a secret. This doesn't change how I feel. I'm just happy you're okay. You had me so worried. I mean, what would happen if you died? Can you imagine Piqcery's face if I told her that case was now MCUSAs responsibility." Tina laughed again and started crying at the same time.

Newt pulled her arm. "Come here," he said. She crawled up on the bed and let him hold her. "I'm so sorry to have worried you. I'm not use to having someone around who cares. I'll be more careful from now on. I promise."

Tina sniffled. "And no more secrets," she said.

"No more secrets," he agreed. "No wait, there is one . . . " Tina looked up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, Jacob asked me if we were dating, and I didn’t know what to say. It seems like we're dating, but we never really talked about it. So are we?" asked Newt.

"Dating?" said Tina.

"Yes?"

"Okay, we have to stop asking questions or this will never end," she said with a smile.

"Tina, I would very much like to be dating you, if you would let me," Newt said. Then he held his breath.

"I would," said Tina. Newt let out the breath he was holding and she smiled sweetly at him. "But there's a catch," she said.

"Oh my," said Newt. _She's devious. Probably a Slytherin. Why am I always falling in love with Slytherins_.

"You have to promise to tell me the story of every single one," she pointed at the scars.

"Right now?!" he said.

"No, no, not right now. Just eventually. One at a time. How about start with this one?" she said, pointing to one patch running down the side of his ribs. There must have been at least twenty small scars there. They were all different sizes and shapes but they had they distinct look of a group. Like they he'd got them all at the same time from the same incident. There were even a few on his arm and she suspected they would line up perfectly together with the ones on his ribs.

"Ah, you see, that is the story of how I got expelled from Hogwarts," he said. _Yes, she would definitely have been a Slytherin._


End file.
